


all around me are familiar faces

by othiara



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Orphan Black Fusion, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-04
Updated: 2014-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-03 10:42:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1741817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/othiara/pseuds/othiara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye has a lot of problems to deal with, including working as a hacker for S.H.I.E.L.D., a growing crush on Jemma Simmons, and women around the world who look just like her. [An Orphan Black AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. when people run in circles

It’s been a long day. There are a lot of those in this profession, but this one definitely make the list. Skye would prefer not to think about that poor man and what was dripping out of his orifices ever again.

That’s where the drinking comes in. (After a long shower, of course. She had to rinse her hair about four times just to get rid of the smell.) There’s a bar near their hotel, so it all works out. Of course, she’s not planning on getting entirely wasted, and Fitzsimmons are here to make sure she sticks to that. She’s just going to drink enough that she won’t have trouble getting to sleep later.

At least they get to stay in France. It might not be Paris, but Skye can check that off her bucket list now. She would do something ridiculous and dorky for tourists, but honestly, this day has just taken the energy right out of her.

“I’m gonna go get us another round,” Skye says.

“Ooh, could you get me that double IPA at the top of the middle list?” Jemma requests, pointing at the chalkboard over the bar.

“Got it,” she says, glancing up to see which one she’s referring to. “And for you, Fitzy?”

“Just whatever’s on tap should be fine,” he answers with a grim smile. Skye knows the day affected him in much the same way it did her. Jemma, on the other hand, seems to be very much on the side of delighted and intrigued when things start dripping goo, which is cute most of the time but a bit off-putting right now.

Skye needs to stop thinking of Jemma as cute. She obviously doesn’t swing that way. She needs to focus on getting beer. She gives the bar a quick once-over. It’s crowded; there’s even a small line.

A girl at the bar turns around. “Merci,” she says, accepting her drink. She and Skye meet eyes, and it’s like looking in a mirror. She looks like Skye, but at the same time, she’s a stranger.

With an expression like a deer caught in headlights, the woman turns and runs out the door. Skye wants to know who she is, so she does the only rational thing; she chases after her. With the beer bottle slowing her twin down and Skye’s added speed due to S.H.I.E.L.D. training, it doesn’t take Skye long to catch up.

“Hey,” Skye says. “Who are you?”

“I wish you people would just leave me alone!” the woman yells in a thick French accent, waving her arms around wildly. Her bottle drops to the pavement and shatters. “Merde.”

Skye backs up, trying to appear as nonthreatening as possible. “I don’t know what people you’re talking about, but I’d be willing to buy you another beer if you tell me why we look alike.”

The woman looks at her suspiciously. “Vraiment?”

Skye nods, glad her lookalike is calming down. It feels like the right answer, even if she isn’t certain what she said.

“We can’t do it here or at my apartment…” She trails off, clearly expecting Skye to provide a meeting place.

“I have a hotel room,” Skye offers. She’s glad AC decided to splurge and let them get their own tonight. She’s not sure what she’d say to Fitzsimmons.

“That should be fine.”

“Okay, here’s my room card. I’m in that hotel,” she says pointing at the neon sign across the street. “Room number’s on the card. I’ll go get you that beer.” Skye smiles reassuringly at her, and she manages a hesitant smile in return, though she looks nervous.

“I, erm, I ordered from the list on the right, the third one down,” she says, accepting the room card and slipping it into her pocket. Skye turns around and walks back into the bar.

Jemma waves her over immediately, looking adorably concerned. “Where did you go?”

“Sorry. I just went to get a bit of fresh air. I’ll go get those beers now. Then I think I’m gonna turn in.”

Jemma looks like she wants to ask more questions, and her brow is furrowed. “Well, okay, I guess,” she says, frowning.

“Night,” Fitz says, not seeming to notice anything out of the ordinary.

“Night,” she replies. She walks back up to the bar and orders the three beers, none for her so they don’t get suspicious. Something tells her to keep this from them, just for a little while, even though she usually prides herself on not keeping things from her team anymore. She should figure out what’s going on herself before she worries them. It’s not like they don’t have enough to worry about. She puts Fitzsimmons’ glasses on the table and waves goodbye before walking out the door.

She wonders who the woman is to her. At first she’d assumed that they were twins, which is pretty logical given their visual similarities, but after her outburst, Skye isn’t so sure. She doesn’t know what else they could be, though. What, some mirage caused by an 084? Alternate realities? It’s all ridiculous stuff from science fiction. She knocks on the door, and her double opens it.

It’s not getting less freaky.

She walks into the small room, shutting the door behind her. She starts to wonder if this is such a good idea after all with the way this woman is acting, then steels herself. She’s been trying to find information about her family her entire life. She’s not giving up this opportunity now.

The woman takes the beer from Skye, twists off the cap, and takes a big gulp. “My name is Amalie,” she says, pausing for breath and figuring out what to say, “and we’re clones.”


	2. it's time to begin, isn't it

“Clones,” Skye repeats in disbelief.

“Oui,” Amalie says, taking another deep swig from her beer bottle.

“Are you kidding me?”

She smirks. “I wish I was,” she says, then gives Skye a thoughtful look. “You know, you could still walk away from all this. I won’t tell the others about you. Trust me; it will save you a lot of trouble. This is some pretty deep merde; you’d do best to avoid it.”

Skye’s head turns with all this new information. She’s stuck on the part where she’s a clone. If that’s true, which she still hesitates to believe despite some pretty overwhelming evidence, then there’s no way she’s just going to let it go as Amalie suggests.

“Can you give me contact information for the others?”

Amalie grumbles something unintelligible in French. “Fine, but remember that it’s all your fault. Give me your email and mobile number. I’ll send you some contacts.”

Skye writes her contact information on the hotel’s notepad, tears it off, and hands it to Amalie.  
“Very well. I must be on my way.” She slips the paper into her coat. “Adieu.”

…

Skye’s phone buzzes the next day while she’s in the lab with Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons are working on something very important and scientific that she can’t understand a word of, but since they don’t have any actual case for the time being, Skye’s just browsing tumblr and reddit.  
The text is from an unknown number. Skye clicks on it.

Unknown number [text]: _hey, i’m julia, amalie said you were one of us?_

Skye [text]: _Yeah. She said we’re clones?_

Unknown number [text]: _yep! i’m a biologist, i’m using my resources to figure out what i can about us_

Skye [text]: _Found anything?_

Unknown number [text]: _working on it! wbu, what do you do?_

Skye hesitates before replying. She’s not sure how much she should reveal.

Skye [text]: _I do computer work for SHIELD_

Unknown number [text]: _that sounds useful! :) are you american then?_

Skye [text]: _Yeah, you?_

Unknown number [text]: _english. hey, could you possibly not tell family and friends about us for now? we’re looking to keep it a secret for now._

Skye [text]: _Okay. How many of us are there?_

Unknown number [text]: _i can’t imagine we’ve found all of us, but we know of about a dozen_

Unknown number [text]: _i mean obviously we didn’t find you, so there are probably others_

Skye [text]: _That’s fine, I didn’t make myself easy to find. Brb_

She types the last part hurriedly. Jemma is looking at her strangely. “Are you texting someone?”  
Skye can see why that wouldn’t be the best thing. The people she knew before S.H.I.E.L.D. are the sort of people they definitely don’t want her staying in contact with, and she hasn’t had much time lately to meet someone new. She quickly switches to one of her bookmarked cat videos. “Nope, just on youtube.”

“Your laptop is right there.” Jemma’s right, of course. The laptop is literally within arm’s reach, and there’s no reason for her to be using the smaller screen. Skye shrugs, directing her eyes back to her phone and hoping Jemma just drops the subject.

Luckily, Jemma finds something to critique in Fitz’s work. Skye slips out of the lab unnoticed. She pulls out her phone and starts texting again only once she’s safely locked away in her room.

Skye [text]: _Who are the others?_

She can’t keep herself from asking even though she realizes the others might be like Amalie and not want to be involved in any of this.

Unknown number [text]: _i’m going to talk to them before i give you names, but we have 2 in north america (3 now), 3 in asia, 6 in europe including me and amalie_

Skye [text]: _Okay, anything else I should know?_

Unknown number [text]: _i’ll keep you posted_

Skye still has a lot of questions, but she pushes them to the back of her mind. She quickly enters Julia’s name and number into her phone contacts. She should go back to the lab, spend some time with the team, stop acting so weird. She really doesn’t need a bunch of perceptive agents suspecting something’s going on with her. She knows she’ll be fine; it’s not like she’s never lied to the team before.

Jemma is alone in the lab. She’s mixing some chemicals. Her hands seem used to the precision work. She only lets a single drop of the substance out at a time. Skye is mesmerized. It’s the most natural thing, like she’s done this a thousand times, yet she’s also very careful and deliberate about it, clearly paying a lot of attention to what she’s doing.

The moment ends when Jemma finishes the chemical procedure and looks up to see Skye. Skye blushes profusely and avoids Jemma’s curious gaze.

“Skye! Hello,” Jemma exclaims cheerfully, like she hadn’t just caught her staring. “I was just about to go grab some lunch. Would you care to join me?”

“Sure,” Skye says, smiling brightly.

“Great!” Jemma’s grin completes the dorky look created by goggles too large for her face and a lab coat that makes her look like the perfect evil scientist.

Skye’s probably entirely screwed at this point. She keeps trying not to fall for straight girls, but Jemma Simmons is entirely irresistible. Besides, she figures, it doesn’t really matter if Jemma never finds out, does it?

There are still some leftovers in the fridge from 3 nights ago when May cooked. Skye knows the food is too spicy for Jemma, but she still holds out the food in offering. Jemma declines with a shake of her head. That leaves her with only sandwich ingredients since they haven’t had much time for shopping with all the cases. She instead pulls out bread, strawberry jelly, and peanut butter. There aren’t many other options because they haven’t had much time to stock up with cases, not that a sandwich is a particularly odd choice for Jemma even when they are fully stocked.

Skye focuses her attention on the microwave. There is no way she’s going to explain to S.H.I.E.L.D. that she accidentally set fire to the Bus because she was too busy staring at Jemma Simmons.

May walks in and eyes them both. “Briefing in ten,” she announces flatly before leaving as suddenly as she came.

Skye pulls her lunch out of the microwave. In an instant, Jemma has put down her sandwich and is trying to help Skye retrieve a plate from the cupboard, working around her as effortlessly as she does around Fitz. She turns back to Skye to hand her the dish. Skye turns at the same time, and suddenly they’re very close.

Skye should definitely back up. There’s room for her to, and it would make this situation so much less awkward. However, she really doesn’t want to. She finds herself thinking that she only has to lean over and her lips will be on Jemma’s.

The only thing keeping her from doing that is that she really doesn’t want to ruin this friendship. It’s better than any she’s had in a long time, possibly ever, and she doesn’t know if she could stand any awkwardness between them, especially when they’re living in such close quarters.

She stumbles backward and accepts the plate when Jemma hands it to her. Jemma hastily walks back to the counter. Both women are blushing red as a tomato.

They finish the meal in silence.

…

“An unregistered Gifted has been spotted in Toronto,” Coulson begins the briefing. “She seems to be able to bend people’s wills with her mind.” He tosses the file down on the table unceremoniously.

“We’re landing in an hour,” May adds. They exit, leaving Skye and the scientists to read up on the case.

Skye grabs the file and takes a look at the woman’s picture. She has black hair that frames her pronounced jaw and pale blue eyes. She frowns slightly in the image. The caption identifies her as Madeline Cross.

Madeline seems to have adapted well to her powers. According to the file, she’s been using them for her own personal gain in fairly predictable ways. She pocketed an entire bank’s money in cash in clear view of security cameras, only for the police to unanimously decide that she was innocent despite having evidence to the contrary. She also recently made a considerable leap up the corporate ladder.

It doesn’t seem like the worst thing she could do with powers as potent as hers, but then again, all they know is what comes up on official statements, and this is definitely something they need to stop.

“We’ll need to incapacitate her,” Fitz says, more thinking out loud than directed at anyone in particular.

“We should be able to shoot her with an ICER fast enough,” Jemma finishes his thought.

“And if we miss?” Skye asks. While right now this woman seems like one of the less immediately dangerous or gross things they’ve had to deal with, there’s no denying that she could easily wreak some real havoc.

Fitzsimmons share a look. “Let’s hope we don’t miss,” Jemma answers for both of them.

“I could design more weapons, but she could just ask us to put them down,” Fitz agrees with a shrug.

Jemma gives Skye a faint but less awkward smile. “I suppose we should go prepare for landing.”

Fitzsimmons walk in the direction of the lab talking over each other quietly. Skye runs a hand through her hair and heads toward her room. A glimpse at her phone tells her that she has no new messages.

This is the type of mission that will either go off without a hitch or go horribly wrong and end with half the team nearly dead. For some reason, it’s almost always safe to assume it will be the latter.

The first part of the mission, the one where they get Madeline Cross on the Bus, is really only a one man job. May volunteers because she’s the best at getting in without being noticed and the best shot. If all goes as planned, they should have Madeline in the Bus within a few hours. Skye decides to chance texting Julia once they have everything planned.

Skye [text]: In Toronto right now, anything I can do now from here?

The response comes a few minutes later.

Julia [text]: _one of us is in toronto. you got any free time?_

Skye [text]: _Possibly. Text me the address?_

She wasn’t expecting Julia to give a positive answer, but she knows she wants to meet another clone if she has the chance. Slipping away from the team will be much more difficult today, especially since they’re in the middle of a mission. Julia responds with an address that Skye recognizes as coming from the city’s suburbs. It won’t be all that hard a trip to make if she can get away.

She stands with the rest of the team around the table, listening on the comms for word from May. The security cameras are ample in the business where Madeline works, so Skye can get a pretty good image of what’s going on.

A man appears from around a corner suddenly when May has almost made it to Madeline’s office. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” They can hear his voice clearly through the comms. He’s angry, nearly to the point of shouting already.

“I’m here to see Ms. Cross,” May answers calmly, but Skye can see her stance changing so she can jump to the defense more quickly.

“No,” he says, trembling with anger and moving closer, invading her personal space. “Get out.”

She strikes swiftly, becoming a blur on the screen. The man is unconscious on the floor before he has time to make a noise. May makes another few turns until she finds herself at a door that gets her into Madeline’s office. She readies her gun, getting into position before she throws the door open.

Her shot is aimed quickly but not before Madeline can shout, “Drop the gun!”

A loud clanging noise is audible through the comms. Fitz winces. Skye groans. Of course this mission won’t be easy.

“Stay where you are,” Madeline continues almost boredly. “Break your communication device.” They lose the audio signal almost immediately after they hear those words. They still have the visual on Skye’s laptop, but that’s not much. They definitely have to go in.

“I’ll prepare the Short Bus,” Ward says. Skye tries to figure out what’s going on via the security feed. It looks like they’re just talking for now, which is good. They parked the Bus as close as they could, but since it’s a nice sized plane, it’ll still take them a long time to get to the office building. It’s better Madeline doesn’t make May do anything drastic before they get there. Skye brings the laptop with them in the van. They’re still talking. Hopefully May hasn’t given anything harmful away.

The army of corporate workers that meet them at the entrance tells her enough about what May has been talking to them about.

The men aren’t armed very well at all. One of them has a stapler, but Skye never lets him get close enough to use it. One tries to bash her over the head with a keyboard, but she’s had enough training at this point to know how to dodge such a slow motion. Some of the smartest throw things from a distance, knowing the team won’t actually shoot them.

The scientists have been holding their own alright, not that it’s incredibly hard against a bunch of office workers. Out of the corner of her eye, Skye sees someone grab Jemma by her arm, surprising her. She starts making her way over to help her when she sees that the man left her lying on the ground. He must have knocked her out. Skye starts to run so she can be over there defending her friend.

She hits Jemma’s attacker with a hard punch, making his jaw give off a sickening cracking noise. Her knuckle hurts, but she doesn’t have time to focus on that. She kneels beside Jemma, checking her out. Now that she has a closer view, she can see that Jemma isn’t quite unconscious yet. A silver letter opener is embedded in her shoulder.

Skye winces and meets Jemma’s eyes. “It’s okay. You’ll be fine. Stay with me, alright?” Jemma’s eyes are glassy, and she fades out almost as soon as Skye stops talking. Skye feels her heart clench with fear.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I will be away without internet for the next 3 weeks, so I will be unable to post any new chapters. I will be writing as much as possible with pencil and paper for that time, however, so expect some new chapters once I get back.


	3. i just lose my nerve, as i've done from the start

Skye doesn’t stick around long enough to finish fighting the workers Cross convinced to take care of them. She catches Coulson’s eye as she carries Jemma out so he knows she’s leaving.

Jemma is surprisingly heavy, but at least Ward’s copious upper body training is finally coming in handy. As soon as she’s out of the building, passersby start paying attention. In any other situation, someone taking up this much room in the middle of the sidewalk would be shoved aside without a second thought, but because of Jemma bleeding in her arms, she warrants some attention.

“Call an ambulance!” Skye yells over the rush of traffic and the startled chatter of pedestrians.  One of the bystanders immediately starts calling with their cell phone. Skye lowers Jemma to the ground gently and pulls out the knife, then puts her hands over the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. It's only minutes until an ambulance appears, but it feels like longer. Skye hears sirens and sees flashing red and blue in her peripheral vision, not taking her eyes off Jemma for even a moment.

Paramedics drag her away so they can get a closer look at the injury, but they allow Skye to ride the ambulance with them as long as she keeps her distance and doesn’t get in their way.

The paramedics apply pressure to Jemma's wound. She hasn't lost too much blood; it's nothing compared to when Skye was shot. She doesn't let herself hope for anything yet, but she can tell it's less serious than she originally thought.

Jemma is efficiently loaded onto a different stretcher and wheeled into the hospital. Skye has to jog to keep up. She watches from just outside the room as doctors patch Jemma up. She doesn't want to be seeing this, but she can't look away.

Someone taps her shoulder. "Excuse me, are you family or friend?"

"Significant other," Skye answers without thinking, then winces as soon as he turns his back. What was she thinking? She sighs and turns back to where Jemma is lying. She'll have to deal with that mistake later.

A couple minutes later, a doctor comes out. "It looks like she's going to be fine," she says. "She'll most likely be unconscious for another hour or two, but it seems like she passed out from pain and shock, not blood loss, so her healing process should go quickly."

Skye feels relief flowing through her. "Thank you," she says, smiling at the doctor. She nods before moving on.

Skye rushes into the room. She knows Jemma's okay now, but she still needs to see it with her own eyes. Jemma looks pale, especially in the harsh lighting, but she's okay. She's breathing normally, a bandage covering her shoulder, and she has a fresh hospital gown on that's clean of blood. She's going to wake up soon.

Skye knows she can't stay here. She can't just hang around Jemma's unconscious body for the next few hours, and she really needs some air after all this. Besides, she knows just where to go.

...

It's nearly 8 p.m. Toronto time when Skye hesitantly but firmly knocks on the door of her clone. Julia hasn't told Skye anything about her. Judging by her house in the suburbs and the nice car in the driveway, she's pretty well off and probably has a family.

The door opens, and the clone stands in the doorframe. Skye is struck by how much her appearance fits the neighborhood. She can imagine herself in a lot of situations, growing up with a lot of different families - she has, in fact - but somehow this never even crossed her mind. She can't help but stare blankly at the woman wearing yoga pants, a neat pink shirt, and a lime green headband, the perfect picture of suburbia.

The woman in question looks far from happy to see Skye. Anger radiates from her form, barely masked by her faux polite smile. Skye resists the urge to take a large step back. The woman grabs Skye's arm and forcefully yanks her around to the side of the house.

"What are you doing here?" she hisses.

Skye actually does step back now. The suburban woman finally lets her hand drop from its death grip on Skye's arm.

“Who are you?” the woman asks. She wraps her arms around herself protectively. She seems to physically shrink into herself. “How did you get this address?”

The woman is fuming. Skye supposes she can see why; if she had a life as pristine as this one, she would be angry at any complications, too. As it is, she loves her family on the Bus, but she doubts they can be ripped apart as easily as that. They’ve been through a lot before.

“I’m Skye. Julia gave me this address,” Skye says quickly. Despite probably not being able to actually hurt Skye, something about her is incredibly threatening, and Skye doesn’t want to get on her bad side.

The woman relaxes slightly but keeps a glare fixed on Skye. “I’m going to go put my daughter to bed,” she says pointedly. “Meet me at the back door in ten minutes. Don’t let anybody see you.” She stomps off toward the front of the house.

Skye slinks into the shadow of the house, clinging to the darkness. She stands on the back deck out of view of all the windows, impatiently waiting for the door to open. Toronto evenings are chilly, and she left her jacket on the Bus, which makes the wait even more difficult.

The door finally opens after 10 minutes exactly. The woman looks more composed now, but her feelings still clearly shine through.

“You don’t come near my family,” she says with aggression. “Are we clear?”

“Yes,” Skye says.

“Good. What do you need?”

“I want to know more about us. Who we are, who made us, all that.” Skye crosses her arms over her chest, trying to demand the answers.

The clone laughs. “Don’t we all,” she says. “My husband could’ve answered that door as easily as me. That was too close. My family can’t figure out what I am.” She says the last part with disgust, like it’s shameful.

“I won’t do it again,” Skye promises gravely. “Sorry, I’m new. I don’t know the rules of clone club or whatever,” she adds jokingly.

She stiffens. "Don't use that word, please," she chirps. "My name is Catherine. Is there anything you need that I can actually do?"

"Not right now. I'll give you my cell number." Skye digs around in her pocket for a minute before Catherine makes a small annoyed sound and pulls her phone out of her pocket.

"Do you live far?" Catherine asks as Skye types her number into the small pink cell phone.

"I'm sort of on the move," Skye answers distractedly and finishes entering herself as a contact. She hands the phone back to Catherine. "If it's anything important, you can call."

"Fine," Catherine says. "Leave quickly so my neighbors don't see you." She turns on her heel and leaves without saying goodbye. Skye slouches and sighs, exhausted by the angry suburban mother.

She knows she should get back to Jemma. It certainly can't be any later than 8:30, but it's a pretty long bus trip, so  she needs to get going. Even though it's dark enough that no one can recognize her unless they look closely, she follows Catherine's instructions and moves as quickly as she can.

...

Jemma is sitting up in bed when Skye gets back to the room. She looks a lot better.

"I got stabbed," Jemma says thoughtfully when she sees her, like she hasn't really processed it yet.

"Yeah. You shouldn’t do that again." Skye pulls a chair from the side of the room to right next to the bed and sits.

"I agree." She shifts, making herself more upright. "Where's the rest of the team? Do they know where we are?"

That hasn't even occured to her. She hasn't given the team a second thought since she got Jemma out of there. "No, I should call them." She stands.

"Oh, and Skye?" Jemma calls out as Skye turns away.

"Yeah?" Skye asks, immediately adopting a look of concern.

"Just before you came in, they told me my girlfriend was in to see me," she says sweetly. It's clearly something she expects an answer to.

Skye shrugs. She's glad for a moment that Jemma is awful at knowing when people are lying. "Well, they wouldn't let me in if I was just a friend, I don't think, and family didn't really seem like it would work."

Skye thinks she sees a flicker of disappointment in Jemma's eyes, but it's probably just a trick of the light. "Oh. That makes sense, I suppose."

Skye pulls out her phone, and there's  a new message on it.

Unknown number: Another of us has been killed. We should discuss safety measures.

Skye reads it over again to make sure she hasn't misunderstood. She keeps her expression neutral and decides to address that situation later. For now, Jemma is her top priority.

...

Hours later, the Bus is quiet due to the exhaustion of all its passengers. May retreated to the cockpit immediately and hasn't emerged since. The others all slowly trickle back to their rooms, Jemma first as soon as Fitz is done worrying after her.

Skye is restless. She's too wired to sleep. She replies briefly to Catherine's text.

Skye: Won't be available for an in person visit for a while, I'd like an explanation.

She doesn't expect an answer tonight. It's already quite late, and she assumes soccer moms have really early bed times anyway.

Skye stretches and decides to get a drink of water. She could use a bit of a refresher before she tries to sleep. As she walks down the cold hallway, she notices light coming from under Jemma's door. That's especially odd for her; Skye knows Jemma can only sleep when it's dark. She decides to investigate. She knocks lightly on the door.

She hears some shuffling noises, and then the door opens, revealing Jemma wearing a light green tank top and blue pajama pants with pink cats on them. "Hello, Skye. It's rather late; shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I could ask you the same," Skye deflects with a smile. Jemma looks truly adorable in her pajamas, as compared to Skye, who must look like a mess in nothing but an oversized t-shirt.

"I suppose you could. Come in," Jemma says, making room in the door for Skye to walk through.

Skye accepts the invitation. Jemma moves in after her, shutting the door behind them. They both take a seat on the bed.

"You should really be resting," Skye says, eyeing the bandage covering Jemma's shoulder.

Jemma rolls her eyes. "They gave me a clean bill of health, I'll have you know."

"Who knew you were as bad a patient as me," Skye teases. The silence after that remark feels endless, but it's not uncomfortable.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly changes. It hadn't really registered in Skye's mind before this moment exactly how close they are. It's ridiculously late, and she will definitely regret this in the morning, but she goes for it. She closes the distance between them easily, moving one of her hands to Jemma's face.

The kiss lingers for a few seconds, staying chaste, until Jemma pulls back. The look on her face is very surprised and not entirely pleased.

Skye immediately stands up and takes a huge step back. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm gonna go," she says in one breath then rushes out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I won't be able to finish another chapter before I have to leave again, I think you guys should know that I will be going on vacation from this Monday until August 5. So enjoy this chapter, you won't be getting another one for over a month! Sorry! I promise this is the last really long break without updates. I'll hopefully start updating much more regularly once I return.


End file.
